Top Notch

My good friend Nicole (you can read her blog here) reminded me that I have just completed one of the things on my Pre-Dooms Day List (read that post here), namely, visiting Top of the Ritz! And now I have to tell you all about it.

Firstly I need to say that I didn't even know that this place existed until this year (SHOCK! HORROR!) and I've been living in Cape Town for almost a quarter of a century. For those of you who share this disgusting oblivion, let me fill you in. The Top of the Ritz is the Western Cape's only revolving restaurant situated on the 22nd floor of the Ritz Hotel in Camberwell Road, Sea Point. While you eat some Swiss Cuisine, the restaurant rotates (very slowly) giving you a 360 degree view of Cape Town. Each rotation takes an hour and 15 minutes, which is just about as long as it took for them to serve us our mains. The funny thing is that usually I would complain about waiting that long for my food, but I didn't even notice the time had gone by...we were having too much fun with the whole rotating restaurant thing!

When you sit down you do feel a bit funny, but after a while (perhaps it was the wine) you don't even notice the movement. Be careful of where you put your handbag though - I promptly put it down next to me (I was sitting window-side) only to look down a few minutes later and see that it was gone...the outer ring does not rotate (only the floor does) so my handbag was sitting comfortably where we had started our dinners. I'm sure a lot of people have experienced "stolen" bags at Top of the Ritz.

Before you go you should definitely brush up on your cuisine knowledge. My Blackberry came in handy for googling words like Cafe de Paris sauce, Chateau Briand and Spatzle. The menu is quite extensive (and I have to add that they have 4 options for vegetarians...panzerotti, risotto, gnocchi, and cous cous). Meals aren't badly priced, I would say between R 70 - R 100 for a main. I wasn't remarkably blown away by the standard of the food but the experience made up for it. But let's be honest...most people would say "when is vegetarian food ever excellent at a restaurant that doesn't specialise in it?". I meant to ask everyone else about their food but again, we were all getting too involved... or should I say REvolved (sorry, I had to!).

Describing the atmosphere I would say it's quite a romantic place...they have a pianist playing all throughout dinner, and you get to see the pretty lights of the city...you get the drift. A dinner for two there could be very elegant and romantic. On top of that I'd say it has quite a European feel to it - especially the bar; it reminded me of this awesome bar I went to in Stockholm called Sky Bar. What amazed me was how packed the restaurant was! It seats 120 people and it was almost at capacity on a Tuesday night??!! I suppose that's always a good sign.

Even if you don't venture up to the restaurant, the bar below (on the 21st floor) is pretty awesome and offers some great views as well. I had a cosmopolitan cocktail that was super...and it only cost R35 which I think is damn inexpensive for a fancy bar miles up in the sky. The decor is a bit old-school and could definitely do with a refurbishment to modernise the place, but I guess keeping it that way adds character. I would definitely recommend visiting the bar and the restaurant - it really is one of Cape Town's gems.

Thumbs up:

• Awesome cocktails at the bar (get there early for pre-drinks!)
• Friendly service
• Amazing views
• Absolutely fun and unique experience
• Extensive menu that caters for everyone

Thumbs down:

• Dodgy lift ride (I don't think the lift has been replaced since like the 60s...it feels that way! But I just have a thing about lifts)
• Decor (the place has such potential to be a very upmarket Cape Town bar and restaurant, but again to be fair, I'm not exactly their target market I don't think)
• The long wait for food to be served might annoy some - but as I said, the experience made up for that. It was really busy on the night we went.

Top of the Ritz restaurant

The bar at Top of the Ritz (on the 21st floor) - this part doesn't rotate.